No fewer than 18 players from eight clubs were nominated, including Matthew Jarvis (Merthyr), Jay Baker (Aberavon) and James Garland (Aberavon). But the inventive and quick Andrews, who can play scrum-half or wing, took the decision.

The honour will be seen as the perfect send-off for Tipuric ahead of his exertions with the Lions in New Zealand this summer.

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His form has been consistently strong for a number of seasons but this term he has taken his performances to another level, backing up his eye-catching work in attack with remarkable defensive work that has seen him make 319 successful tackles and miss only seven, giving him a completion rate of 98 percent.

Aberavon wing Stef Andrews has been named the best player in the Premiership

He also scored one of the tries of the campaign when he collected the ball from a kick off against Newcastle Falcons in the European Challenge Cup, chipped ahead and beat the cover to the ball, racing the past part of 65 metres before touching down his extraordinary score.

The awards will be presented at the 43rd annual dinner of rugby writers at Cardiff rugby club later in the year.